Wow – where did this week go! It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re very busy and you’re enjoying what you’re doing. On Thursday, Butch and I were both absolutely convinced that it was Wednesday: poor Terry had to show us OSTPV (our electronic planner application) to make us change our mind!
Talking about planning, the plan for me yesterday was to complete a series of swabs for the experiment Microbiome, for which I have already been collecting urine and blood this whole week. In the morning I took skin swabs at several locations on my face and arms. Later I repeated some of those swabs after exercising and I took surface swabs at some highly-touched locations on ISS: the ARED lift bar that we use to “lift weights”; the knobs we rotate to open and close the shutters of the Cupola windows; the handheld microphones and so on. As usual, everything goes into the MELFI freezer for return whenever the sample can hitchhike a ride back to Earth.
I also relocated a SAMS unit in Columbus: SAMS units are installed throughout the Station and measure acceleration. If we were in a condition of perfect microgravity SAMS would measure zero acceleration. But of course, although we float around weightless, we don’t have perfect microgravity on ISS; any input on structure, be it from a pump running or from someone pushing off a handrail, causes a little acceleration locally that the SAMS units can measure.
Looking back at the work week, I’ve tried hard to become better at not letting things float away: remembering to properly close a bag full of items, even if I’m turning the other way only for a few seconds; scanning the area in 3 dimensions before leaving a work area; properly securing things with Velcro or bungees, even if it seems like a good idea to just press them beneath the knees or stick them under a handrail… it’s not a good idea.
On the positive side, though, the fact that things float also means that you have the third hand you always wanted, or the fourth, or the fifth… Let’s say you need both of your hands to do something, but you’re holding something: well, as long as you don’t turn away, you can just let it float. A “third hand” will keep it floating in front of you, you just need to give it a gentle push if it starts to get out of your field of view. There’s something magic indeed about a weightless environment! And it’s interesting how you have to learn that: I have heard several times Butch telling me “Just let it go.”
Last thing I’ll tell you tonight: Butch has set up our Christmas tree in the Lab and even hung socks for the six of us. So from now until Christmas, if we come across someone’s favorite dish when searching through a food container, we can stick it in his or her sock!
Futura mission website (Italian): Avamposto42
avamposto42.esa.int
* #SamLogbook * * #Futura42 *
(Trad IT) Traduzione in italiano a cura di +AstronautiCAST qui:
https://www.astronautinews.it/tag/logbook
(Trad FR) Traduction en français par +Anne Cpamoa ici:
https://spacetux.org/cpamoa/category/traductions/logbook-samantha
(Trad ES – Currently not updated) Tradducción en español aquí:
https://www.intervidia.com/category/bitacora
07/12/2014